Skeptics miss point; Mitchell's work nothing short of heroic

Some will say that baseball used Mitchell's report as a way to save itself from a Congressional investigation. So if baseball does investigate itself, it's self-serving; if it doesn't, it's burying the truth. It can't win.

A former senator, federal judge and federal prosecutor and a world-renowned peace broker. Mitchell can stop the British and Irish from killing each other and was a key cog in the Belfast Peace Agreement, but he can't properly investigate steroid use? Do people understand how silly that sounds?

Mitchell should be congratulated, Mitchell should be appreciated, and I would even dare say Mitchell should be cherished. He is the man who has made the steroid cheats and HGH goons finally accountable.

When the steroid chapter is viewed by history decades from now, I hope Mitchell is seen for what he is: a man who held up a giant can of pesticide and fumigated baseball's dark corners. Now, the roaches are on the run.

Here are five reasons, in fact, why Mitchell's document is important and his investigation a success:

1. The report outs one of the long-suspected alleged cheaters, Roger Clemens. Now we know how Clemens was able to keep up his great skills. He was cheating repeatedly, according to Mitchell. From Mitchell's report: "(Clemens' trainer) stated ... he also injected Clemens four to six times with human growth hormone..." As with Barry Bonds and other steroid users, all of the achievements of Clemens should be viewed with great suspicion.

2. The report demonstrates the hypocrisy of owners and general managers. They knew. They knew everything, and they endorsed steroid use by signing players who cheated to lucrative contracts.

One of the great passages of Mitchell's report is this note chronicling an internal discussion among Los Angeles Dodgers officials about Paul Lo Duca in 2003: "Steroids aren't being used anymore on him. Big part of this. Might have some value to trade ... Florida might have interest ... Got off the steroids ... Took away a lot of hard line drives ... can get comparable value back would consider trading ..." In other words, the Dodgers knew Lo Duca had been using yet did nothing about it.

Mitchell's report also does not look positively on San Francisco general manager Brian Sabean. Mitchell portrays Sabean as a Bonds enabler.

3. The report is an excellent snapshot of one of baseball's darkest periods. The worst era in baseball's history is the segregation era; the second worst is the steroid era. We now have an official document that chronicles this time period. It's not total, it's not ideal -- there are hundreds of players breathing a sigh of relief right now because they weren't named -- but it's still extremely thorough.

"I didn't want somebody to say one day," stated Bud Selig, when asked about why the report was commissioned, "'What were they hiding?'"

It is less than genuine of the media to now chastise Mitchell, to say the least. Remember, this was the same media that championed, applauded and penned books on the grandness of the fake rippled backs and artificially generated homers of the steroid users. The media are one of the reasons this mess lingered for so long, and now we're going to thumb our nose at Mitchell?

4. The report allows Selig to enforce public punishment. I believe Selig when he says the offenders will face repercussions, and they should.

"I have to do something about it and the sport will be better off," he said.

5. The report shows the steroid users for what they really are: cowards and rats. This gem from the Mitchell Report is simply outstanding: "We interviewed (former player) David Justice. ... Justice denied using performance-enhancing substances himself, but he provided the names of many players who, he suspected, had used steroids."

You can't make this stuff up.

It's rare I toss the word hero around. I normally reserve its use for soldiers, cops and my mom.

But that's what Mitchell is. He has taken baseball into a brave, new world, a world of accountability.

For that alone, his report is worth its weight in gold.